1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to crushing of aluminum cans for recycling.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Landfills are fast filling up. In recognition of this fact, recyclable products such as aluminum cans have become popular in the beverage industry. The disposable of such cans has become a tremendous problem because of the bulk and inconvenience in the collection and return of such cans to a recycling station.
It is recognized that canned beverage consumption can quickly amass a stockpile of empty cans in a consumer's home, garage or recycle bin. The home-based consumer will typically enjoy the beverage from a recyclable can but not the chore of disposing the empty cans. The task of crushing beverage cans for transport or for disposal in the recycling bin can be a time consuming task, especially in those homes where canned beverages are the drinks of choice. In some households, beverages will be consumed while watching television entertainment such as sporting events or during group activities on the patio or in family dens or recreation rooms. It is not uncommon for some sports enthusiasts to consume several canned beverages in one sitting or over the weekend, especially while hosting company. The chore of preparing the cans for recycling can be tedious, time consuming and may even involve risk of injury. Cylindrical cans may be subjected to high axial forces as by impact to smash the cans to a flattened state or by gradual compression as by a device affording a mechanical advantage as by levers or hydraulic pistons.
An early technique for recycle was for a user to stomp his or her foot on an upright can and to apply a high impact force in hopes it would crush axially without sideways tipping which can lead to ankle or foot injury.
To overcome the risks and inconvenience of manually crushing individual cans early mechanical crushing devices were proposed included a vertically oriented cylindrical can chamber with a weighted metal crushing piston and extended handle. The handle was intended to lift the piston clear of the chamber for receipt of can to be crushed. These crushers suffered from their intrinsically slow and cumbersome operation.
Other solutions proposed a can crushing apparatus with a horizontal crush chamber aligned with a lever driven piston. One example representative of this solution can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,722 to Balbo et al. A can crusher of this type is relatively unwieldy requiring considerable space for installation and clearance for the lever handle.
Others have proposed hoppers for receiving stacked cans to be fed one at a time into a crush chamber. Some examples in the prior art can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,090,308 to Wang; 4,403,545 to Toburen et al.; 4,827,840 to Kane; and 4,962,701 to Stralow. While facilitating the storage and feed process of cans into a crushing position, these crushers also suffer from the shortcoming that elongated hand operated levers are typically relatively long thus requiring considerable clearance around the device for activation of the lever.
Other can crushers remove the manual operation altogether by electronically driving a crushing piston by a hydraulic motor as proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,062,130 to Huber et al. and 5,456,166 to Belognia et al. These machines are expensive to make and can be undesirably noisy.
It will also be appreciated that consumers, especially of alcoholic beverages, who congregate to watch sports often decorate their entertainment halls or recreation rooms with athletic team logos or marks promoting their favorite drinks, sometimes adorning their walls with novelty items such as wet bar mirrors and neon signage, that display the brand of their favorite beverage or snack. Those skilled recognize that promotional items in the home can be very influential in the purchasing habits of beverage consumers. Some of these consumers are as loyal to their brand of beverage as they are to their favorite sports team. While watching sports or engaging in group activities such as billiards, cards, etc., the fervor of these consumers may become heightened during an extended social engagement, especially after a successful play or during frustrating or disappointing periods in a game or during social discourses filled with bombast leaving some participants with pent up emotions seeking an acceptable explosive release.
What has been missing is an acceptable mechanism allowing for a socially acceptable release of such pent up emotions, particularly when such mechanism serves the redeeming purpose of also crushing recyclable empty cans that may be generated during an extended social engagement. Such a device would be a particularly interest to those with a bent on pugilistic or martial arts skills and interested in maintaining or honing their crisp striking strokes.